Can-capping machine.



E. M. LANG,'JR.' CAN CAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 20. I914.

Patented Nov. ,2, 1915.

3 SHE TS-SHEET I /c j E. M. LANG. R. CAN CAPPING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 20. I914.

Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E. M. LANG, JR. CAN CAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATlON FILED JULY 20. 19M.

Patented Nov. 2, 1915 3 SHEETS-SHEET 31 Kwmmm w cuumuln PLANOGRAPH C0..WASHINGTON. I). C

* TE srarns arana err-ion EDWARD 1VI. LANG, an, or PORTLAND, MA NE;

cA v-cArrINe MACHINE.

bility of a can capping machine to jam on any misplaced or bulged cans which may be on the can conveyer, and particularly in the mount which permits the machine to yield relative tothe can conveyer under certain conditions to prevent this jamming. The construction-and operation of this machine will be more fully set forth in the specification which follows. Inthe drawings forming a part of that specification I have shown my invention in its application to a can capping machine.

Throughout specification and drawings like referencenumerals are correspondingly applied, and in these drawings: Figure 1 is a general view of a cap dropping machine equipped with my invention and Fig. 2 is a side sectional view thereof'showing particularly the yielding mount. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the dropping device, the delivery chute being partly broken away. Fig. tis a sectional view of the cap chute, picking and dropping slide and delivery slide with their mountings, on the line 441 of Fig. 3.

V Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same with the cap slide operating mechanism.

guides removechand Fig. 6 is a detail of the The machine, as illustrated in the drawings, is adapted to be used'in connection with any form of can conveyer, as for instance the endless chain type of which I have illustrated a cross section in connection with the showing in Fig.2. In this figure the lateral guides of the conveyer are indicated at 1 with the conveyer chains 2 running between them, having upwardly projecting dogs 3 adapted to engage a can C and carry it forward to the machine.

The feeding and dropping mechanism is mounted on a bearing 5 pivoted at 5 to a clamp 9 held to the bed of the conveyer by a bolt- 9', and having a depending flange 9 Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 20, 1914. Serial No. 851,874.

at nted N between which and the lower portion of the bearing 5 is interposed a spring 8. .In the bearing 5 is mounted a vertical supporting rod 4 held against rotation therein by a bolt. 4. 7 r The rod 4 is supported on the bearing 5 by a sleeve 6 set by a screw 6. Clampedto the rod tand in properposition relative to the conveyer2 is a supporting collar 50 held .by a set screw 51 and supporting a ball race 52. .Above this race is rotatably supported a hollow shaft 13 which surrounds the rod 4. About the hollow shaft 13 is a sleeve 12' upon which a hub 18 is I fixed. Loosely surrounding. the sleeve 12 and below the hub 18 is a disk 15 adjustable with relation to the hub 18. This affords the, slight circumferential. adjustment re quired in timingthe dropping of the caps.

The machine is driven by the cans G as they pass by on the conveyer. Pivoted to the plate lOat equal distances from its axis of rotation are a plurality of can engaging arms 11. These arms are each pivoted between their own ends 'and the rear end of eacharm is in turn pivoted to an annular ring-12 rotatablysupported on flanged rollers 13 carried by the ends of the rods 7, which rods arefadjustably held by-sets'crews 7 in the bearing5 as shown in Fig, 2.

:Al? the upper end of the supporting rod 4- is mounted a casting60 including a suitable casing for a gear 20 set on the upper endof the hollow shaft 13. :The gear 20 meshes with a. pinion 21 to drive a pinion 22 set on the shaft 22 whichcarries a crank arm 24 surrounded by a roller '25. The roller 25 works in the cross slot-26 of a cam slidev 27 having cam slots 27". The casting 60 has a lateral overhang 62 provided with a bottom 43 forming a channel within which over hanging guides 64 and'65 are adjustably supported forcentering theicap with relation to the can as indicated by dotted lines at G in Fig. 2. The shanks of the guides 64;

and65 are slotted and held --to the frame 62 by set screws 66. v I v v Bolted to'the casing extension 62 is the delivery chute 70 having a-V' shaped channel 71 on its upper face anda' shallow groove 72'on its lower side. .Within the groove 7 2 is set an adjustable strip73 adjustably held by a clamping screw ,74 by which its for-' ward end 73 may be properly positioned for supporting the adjacent edge'of the bota tom cap .The extension 62 of the casing casting carries a further extension 67 in which are formed an upper and a lower set of slideways. In the lower shdeway 1S a pusher slide 80 working on the plate d3 which forms a supporting shelf on which the caps P are dropped after they are separated from the column in which they are fed down the chute 70. The placing slide is operated by a lever 81, pivoted at 82 in brackets 83, and operated by a roller 84 on a crank 85 formed on the shaft 22. The lever 81 is slotted to receive the roller 8%, and at its free end is again slotted at 86 to receive a roller 87 on a stud 88 set on the slide 80.

The mechanism for separating and drop ping the caps may be of any desired eon struction and may conveniently be of the construction best shown in Fig. 1. Referring particularly to that figure, it will be seen that above the slide 80 a slideway 90 is formed in the casting in which a pair of carrier slides 33 and 3% work. The carrier slide 3-1 is yieldingly held by a spring 37 backed by a set screw 37. The stud 38 carries a picker blade 28 which is clamped to it bya screw 38 and a suitable washer 38 The other slide 33 has clamped to it a dropper blade 29 held by a screw 33 and washers 33 The slide 34 has a stud 32 and the slide 33 a stud 31, both of which project through the cam slot 27 of the cross slide 27. The picker and dropper blades 28 and 29 are each cut away to clear the studs 32 and 31, as indicated in dotted lines Fig. 5. The cam slide 27 works in a slideway 100 out on the lower face of a block 101 attached by a screw 102 to that part of the extension 67 in which the slideway 90 is formed. The upper face of the block 101 is channeled at 103 and in this channel a narrow plate 104 is adj ustably held by a screw 106 passing through a slot 107 therein. 0n the lower end of the plate 104 there is removably mounted a vertically disposed guide block 108 which is set opposite to the lower end of the chute 70. The chute 70 supports one edge of the caps and the plate 104 supports the opposite edge of the caps P as they reach the lower end of the V shaped chute 70. This adjustability of the block 108 relative to the V shaped chute permits a wide scope of use of the machine for caps of different sizes. Just in the rear of the block 108 a tubular casing 109 is tapped through the plate 104; and in the lower end of the casing is a ball 110 bearing against the upper face of the picker blade 28. The ball 110 is yieldingly held against the blade by a spring 111 backed by a screw plug 112 so that the pressure on the picker blade 28 may be adjusted as desired. In this manner the picker blade is yieldingly held down against the dropper blade 29 but is permitted to yield upwardly to ride over the edge of the bottom cap P when necessary in penetrating between the bottom cap P and the cap which lies next above it. The transverse movement of the cam slide 27 imparts to the slides 33 and 3% a longitudinal reciprocation in their slideways and a corresponding movement of the picker and dropper blades 28 and 29 for the purpose of separating and dropping a cap from the cap column. In this operation, the column normally lies in the position indicated in Fi g. a. In this position, one edge of the column of caps is supported against the projecting edge 73 of the strip 73 and the other edge of the column rests against the block 108 so as to overlie and rest upon the end of the dropper slide 29 at the rear of its recessed point 29'. Upon the first movement of the machine to drop a cap the picker slide 28 advances and thrusts its forward edge between the bottom cap and the cap next above it. In this 1novement,'the picker slide may yield upwardly if necessary against its spring 111. The dropper blade 29 is slightly withdrawn by a simultaneous movement so that the bottom cap P falls into the recess 29 at the forward end of the dropper slide 29 at the same moment that the picker slide starts to insert itself between the caps. In this way certainty of separation is secured and the danger of mutil-ating the caps is avoided.- As soon as the picker slide has advanced sufliciently to support the cap next above the bottom cap P and the superimposed column of caps, the dropper blade recedes slightly, permitting the adjacent edge of the lower cap P to fall into the re cess 29. The caps P are slightly dished and are fed in inverted position. This dropping of the adjacent edge of the lower cap P into the recess'29 causes said cap to be supported in a tilted position in relation to the cap next above it. During this time. the picker blade is traveling forward and rides on the upper surface of the cap supported by the dropper blade. As the slide 28 approaches the end of its advance. the dropper blade is recedingycausing a tilt at the opposite side of the cap P against the point 73 on which it is supported. The bottom cap is thus wholly separated from the cap next above it. but is still being pressed down by the point of the picker blade against the point of the dropper blade.

As the dropper blade continues to recede and the picker blade to advance, the cap P is worked 05 from the point of the dropper and dropped with a sharp release which allows it to fall in a horizontal position on to the shelf 13 from which it is pushed by the pusher slide 80. After the cap has been separated and dropped on to the shelf 43, the pusher slide 80 operates to transfer the cap from the shelf to the open top of the can just below it as presented by the conveyer 2. The delivery of the cap to the can is timed with great eXactitude so that the cap is lodged properly on the can inregistry with the filling opening thereof.

The eccentricity of the ring 12 is ad usted by the positioning of the rods 7 which may be rotated and clamped by the set screws 7 to adjust their eccentric ends 7 so that the ring 12 may be setlaterally in either direction by changing the position of these ends 7 on which the flanged rollers 13 turn.

The machineis started from the position the dropping mechanism. The pressure of each can when engaging the outer end of the arm 11 is transmitted to the ring 12 and the ring 12 is held against any lateral motion under this tendency by the roller 13 on the right of Fig. 2. The jamming of caps is prevented by the yielding mounting of the picker blade 28. In case a cap becomes tilted in vertical position or stands on edge on the plate 13, the slide is permitted to yield against the spring 37 which is adjusted under a light tension. The upward yielding of the picker blade, in addition to its normal yielding functions for the purposes of separation of the caps, introduces a further element of safety in that by so doing it avoids the possibility of its jamming any of the caps P;

The machine is guarded against damage from jamming by the yielding mounting of the bearing 5. Referring to Fig. 2 it will be seen that if the can C should be slightly tilted by having one edge rest on the top of one of the dogs 3, or if the can should have its top bulged on account of a lateral dent in the side as sometimes happens, the pressure of the can against the plate 48 will cause the entire dropping device to rock slightly on the pivot 5 permitting the can to pass without breaking the casting.

Various modifications in the form and construction of my device may obviously be resorted to, all without departing from the spirit of my invention if within the limits of the appended claims.

That I therefore claim and desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

1.. A cap dropper comprising a support for mounting the dropper relative to a can advancing passage, a receiver for a stack of caps over said passage, an escapement device supporting the caps in said receiver and adapted to drop them one at a time therefrom, means for operating said escapementdevice, said cap receiver being pivotally mounted on an axis extending substan tially in the direction of the movement of the cans in said can advancingl'passage whereby said member is adapted to move upwardly and laterally on pressure from a passingcan. i y I 2. A cap dropper comprising a support for mounting the same relative'to a can advancing passage, and a receiver for a stack of caps. over said passage, an escapement devicesupporting the caps 1n said receiver and adapted to drop them one at a time therefrom, means for operating said escapement'device, said capreceiver being pivotally mounted on an axisextending substantially in the direction of the movement of the cans in said can advancing passage and at one side thereofwhereby said member is adapted to be moved upwardly and'transversely on pressure from. a passing can.

3. A cap dropper comprising a support for mounting the same relative to a can advancing passage, a receiver for a stack of caps over said passage, an escapement device. supporting the caps in said receiver and adapted to drop them one at a time therefrom, means for operating saidescapement device, said support including a vertically disposed member mounted at a point substantially below the level, of the top of the cans in said passage and on an axis substantially in the direction of the movement of the cans in said passage whereby said support is adapted to swing laterally therefrom and permit said escapement on said cap receiver to move upwardly i V 1 and laterally by said passage.

4:. A machine of the class described, comprising a support, a bearing pivotally mounted thereon, resilient means for main taining said bearing'in vertical position, a rotatable member mounted on said bearing, can engaging means associated with said member for the rotation thereof, a frame supported on said rotatable member, a gravity chute on. said frame for supporting a column of caps, and a separating and dropping mechanism operatively disposed relative to said chute. v

5. A machine of the class described, comprising a support, a bearing pivotally mounted thereon, a rotatable member mountand pivotally ed on said bearing, can engaging means pivotally associated with said member for the rotation thereof, a frame supported on said rotatable member, a gravity chute on said frame for supporting a column of caps, and a separating and dropping mechanism operatively disposed relative to said chute.

6. In a machine of the class described, a conveyer for a series of cans, a cap dropping mechanism positioned over said con-- tending to remain in overhanging relation to 10 said conveyer by gravity.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

EDWVARD M. LANG, JR.

swinging support pivoted at one sideof said conveyer and an overhanging cap dropping mechanism on said support and tending to remain in overhanging relation to said conveyer by gravity.

8. In a machine of. the class described, a conveyer for a series of cans, an outwardly swinging support, and an overhanging cap dropping mechanism on said support and \Vitnesses:

KATHERINE M. Twice, ALTON I. CROPLEY.

Copies Of this patent, may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0'. 

